Children at breakfast table or the like often get bored with eating and search for a visual stimulation such as reading cereal box covers or watching television. Reading a conventional book, magazine or newspaper is impractical because it requires the use of the hands, which are needed for eating. Also, a conventional book or magazine can only be read by one child at a time when two children are seated opposite each other.
The problem of hand use has been addressed in the past by self-standing books such as certain Little Simon books published by Simon & Schuster of New York, or Tell Me About Books published by Random House. These books have a rigid back cover with hinged sections that fold out to form a stand that supports the book in an upright position. A spiral binding on the top side of the book when it is standing allows the pages to be flipped from the front to the rear of the book.
The prior art books have several disadvantages: for one, they are printed on only one side of the paper, because the back side of the page is hidden from the reader's view when the page is turned; secondly, the inside pages of the book, if coated at all, are coated against moisture and spillage only on the printed side; thirdly, the book can only be read from one side (i.e. by one reader) at a time; and finally, the book rests on its long side for stability, which makes for awkward reading to a child used to reading a book in the upright position.